Music, The Ballets Russes, and the Visual Arts
In addition to encouraging innovative choreography in his ballet productions, Diaghilev also transformed the role of music in theater. The impresario felt so strongly about the potential of musical expression that his first career choice was to be a composer. After turning his attention to dance production, he insisted that choreography should express the meaning of the accompanying music, rather than simply showing off the agility of the dancer.38
Visual artists responded not only to the pioneering dance techniques of the Ballets Russes, but also to the music that inspired that choreography. Artists had attempted to portray the effects of music visually throughout the nineteenth century. Thus, the relationship between the dance and the music in Diaghilev’s ballets ceased to be based primarily on narrative and instead relied on the expressive similarities between the two mediums. Diaghilev’s ideals challenged the traditional practices of balletic composition. Petrouchka, for instance, was the first ballet for which the score preceded, and hence controlled, the choreography. Additionally, Diaghilev was as untraditional in his choice of music as he was in all other aspects of theatrical production. His dances moved to the rhythms of some of the most revolutionary composers of the day, such as Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev, and Erik Satie.